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Wartime Letters 
from Italy 



By- 
Charles Truitt 







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Wartime • Letters 
FROM • Italy 



By ■ CHARLES ■ TRUITT 

Author of ''A Talc of Two Beaches" ^ "Georgeanna Banana" 
''Sara Maloncy's Genius"' "Cinders" " Etc 



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NEW • YORK 

THE • SHERWOOD • PRESS • INC. 

1915 



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Copyright^ 1915 
By CHARLES TRUITT 



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TheM letters are reprinted by permission of the Howard James Syndicate 

©CI,A4 1815 2 



DEC 23 1915 
7ue> J 



I 

CO 

en 



TO MY MOTHEE 



OFF GIBRALTAR 

May 24, 191 5 

Yesterday I said to the Italian steward who 
serves our table, *'Gaetano, do you think we 
shall find war in Italy?" Gaetano has youth and 
strength, qualities beloved of kings and generals, 
so Gaetano's mind dwells much upon the pos- 
sibility of war. Then, too, in Napoli is Bianca 
Fortunelli, who will go with him to the priest at 
San Stefano's in June — if! Assuredly Gaetano 
was the one to know if war was "in the air." 

To-day proved him a prophet. At my ques- 
tion yesterday his manner became grave, like 
that of an old man who has thought much, and 
there was no lilt of adventure in his voice as in 
a mixture of English and Italian, he replied: 
"Signore, I feel that my beautiful country is 
entering into much sadness ; I feel that the sons 
and fathers in Italia will die, because in two 
thousand years mankind has not learned to be 
contented with prosperity and peace. That which 
is savage within men still snarls at continued 



6 WARTIME LETTERS 

goodness. We need something that the priests 
and the doctors of philosophy of all ages have 
not yet been able to give us. Si, S ignore, we 
shall fight ; already I see the shadow of war and 
beneath the shadow the mothers, the sisters, the 
bambini, who cry and are hungry!'' 

A tenor of the Boston Opera Company felt 
the same way; here at sea, hundreds of miles 
from Italy, the shadow of war projected itself. 
The Americans and the English said : "No, Italy 
will not fight. Every day Austria will make 
more concessions and Italy will get what she 
wants without war — even the provinces which 
were stolen from her many years ago." 

But the tenor, lusty and of fighting age, knew 
otherwise. The young stewards, the boys who 
fill wine-bottles, the sailors on the decks and the 
men deep down in the hold — ^they could see the 
mailed fist with the clutching fingers reaching out 
for their youth, their vitality and happiness, for 
their lives. Yesterday their Latin gayety was 
stilled, their voices low, their eyes sad. 

The grim and ugly gunboat that came out to 



FROM ITALY 



meet us as we approached Gibraltar to-day 
seemed to have no rightful place in the sun thai 
danced on a peaceful sea. It struck a note of 
dissonance that even the interest of its appear- 
ance to bored passengers could not make less 
painful. It encircled the ship as if to impress 
us with its power, then through a megaphone a 
voice called out to our captain on the bridge, 
"Will you go into Gibraltar, please/' 

That "please" was mollifying, and the in- 
flexions of the voice made us feel as if we would 
confer a great favor by granting the request that 
concealed a demand. We wondered what a 
Teutonic voice might have called out under like 
circumstances. 

After we dropped anchor, close to the shore, a 
launch put out from the Old Mole with three 
officers, courteous in demeanor, who boarded our 
steamer smilingly, as if intent only upon a social 
call. 

Before we had been allowed to go on the 
steamer in New York, our passports had to be 
surrendered to the captain. These the purser 



8 WARTIME LETTERS 

now spread upon a table in the smoking-saloon, 
ready for inspection by the chief officer of the 
port. One by one, passengers were questioned 
by the gentle- voiced young officer in charge of 
the proceedings. If one answered "yes" to the 
question, "Were you born in the United States ?" 
the officer carefully compared the passenger's 
features with his photograph on the passport, 
and then with a "thank you" turned over that 
"life saver" to its owner. If one said he had not 
been born in America, but was naturalized, he 
first came in for a series of questions in English 
from the officer in charge and then in the lan- 
guage of his mother country from the two sub- 
ordinate officers. If the man under interroga- 
tion showed nervousness or faltered in replying, 
he was none too graciously waved to one side, 
to be examined later. A half-dozen men who 
were born in Germany and one born in England 
of Austrian parents were set apart in this way. 
Before he re-examined these "doubtful" ones, 
the officer announced that a telegram just re- 
ceived stated that the Germans were shooting 



FROM ITALY 9 

English prisoners. He carefully watched the 
seven faces for signs of gratification, then said 
harshly: "The Germans are only animals; I 
hope to see them exterminated!'' Still more 
closely did he watch the eyes of the men before 
him for a flash of anger that might indicate them 
more German than American. Apparently he 
was satisfied, for he proceeded with his exami- 
nation of their other papers and then returned 
the passports. He said later that several Ger- 
mans with fraudulent passports describing them 
as natives of neutral countries had on other oc- 
casions been betrayed by their angry outbursts 
at similar remarks. 

There was some irregularity in the papers of 
the man of Austrian parentage and the officer 
declared he must detain him at Gibraltar. The 
man's English wife announced that she wished 
to be imprisoned with her husband. The officer 
applauded her spirit, but said that most of the 
1, 800 suspects in Gibraltar had been separated 
from their wives and that there was no room for 
her. The husband (wise man) remained silent 



10 WARTIME LETTERS 

while the woman pleaded his cause so convinc- 
ingly that the officer finally concluded to let him 
remain on the steamer, thinking possibly that as 
Italy was at war with Austria, the authorities in 
Naples would not permit him to proceed to 
Trieste, his objective point. 

For that was the great news the officer brought 
— from the twenty-fourth of May, Italy would 
consider herself at war with Austria. The de- 
pression of the tenor, the premonitions of 
Gaetano had been warranted — Italy had truly 
given herself to war. 

At dinner this evening, Jane Noria of the 
Metropolitan Opera Company placed an Italian 
flag atop a rosebush on her table. Everyone 
rose and shouted ''Viva r Italia T And the 
voices of the men who must fight rang as brave- 
ly as if for two hours to-day their eyes had not 
been forced to look upon the hulk of Britain's 
"Inflexible,'' in a compartment of which are 
locked the bodies of forty-three men who had to 
be sacrificed that the lives of their fellow sailors 
might be saved. When the "Inflexible" struck 



FROM ITALY 11 

two mines in the Dardanelles some weeks ago, 
these men were unable to escape before the doors 
of the bulkhead slid into place at the touch of a 
button on the deck above. They were drowned 
by the water that poured slowly in upon them 
through the rent made by the exploding mines; 
and so tightly are the doors of the compartment 
wedged, that after all these weeks the men who 
are repairing the battleship have not yet been 
able to get out the bodies and give them burial. 
The glamours of war do not exist for the men 
of fighting age on board this Italian ship. For 
nearly a year they have daily read of its realities. 
They know that they go, not to stirring ad- 
ventures from which they will return covered 
with honors and exalted with glory, but to hun- 
ger and thirst, toil without recompense, disease, 
mutilation, and, for many of them, death. The 
men who fared forth to fight in the early stages 
of the war had not looked upon illustrations of 
the dying and the dead; upon photographs of 
starving women and children, wrecked cathe- 
drals, and skeletons of houses that once were 



12 WARTIME LETTERS 

part of a prosperous village. They went forth 
in fortunate ignorance. But the men who on 
Saturday will start for the front will have no 
illusions. No crash of cymbals, trumpet call or 
pounding of drums can make war romantic for 
them — for ten months they have read newspapers 
and have seen photographs ! Besides, over there 
in Gibraltar forty-three dead bodies float in a 
dark compartment below the waterline. 

A Roumanian, a fear-ridden creature who 
daily has died many times since we left New 
York, asked one of the English officers if our 
ship would be in danger between Gibraltar and 
Naples, now that Italy, too, is at war. 

"We know that no Austrian or German ships 
are on top of the Mediterranean; we are not 
sure what prowls beneath it," replied the officer. 
The Roumanian's eyes grew hard and staring, 
like glass. At dinner, the steward handed him 
ten dollars — he had won the pool on the ship's 
run that day. The Roumanian stared at it dully 
and whimpered, *T may not live to spend it!" 
We all winced. It hurt to see one so nakedly 



FROM ITALY 13 

afraid. If the rest of us are dreading Austrian 
submarines, we are dissembling successfully. 
Perhaps we have not such visualizing powers as 
the little Roumanian. 

A dozen of our passengers wished to enter 
Spain by way of Gibraltar, but were not per- 
mitted to do so. Even Mr. Charles Payson Press- 
ly, vice-consul at Paris, and provided with a 
special passport, could not start himself and fam- 
ily for Paris through that gateway. And a Span- 
ish soldier, returning from a leave of absence, 
must go to Genoa and take there a boat for 
Barcelona in order to rejoin his regiment in 
Madrid. Neutral or otherwise, we are all 
shackled to the war god's chariot in one way or 
another. 

What shall we do in Italy? Will our letters 
of credit be honored? Shall we be able to get a 
ship back to the United States if we don't re- 
turn immediately? Where can we get some 
American flags? These are a few of the ques- 
tions asked by passengers who did not believe 
that Italy would go to war and who now are 



14 WARTIME LETTERS 

wishing themselves back in America. Some of 
us sailed because we felt that war was inevit- 
able and we would like tO' see it. Needless to 
say, we had never lived in a country that was 
at war. 

Some thoughtful friends sent eight American 
flags to me at the steamer. They now adorn 
eight patriotic (and somewhat timid) native- 
born citizens of the United States, who probably 
never before have been so grateful for being 
Yankees. 



NAPLES BRAVELY CHEERFUL 

When the passengers booked for Genoa 
learned that our ship would remain at Naples for 
six hours, they naturally wished to go ashore af- 
ter the twelve days' pacing of decks. Without 
any inspection of their papers, the officer of the 
port granted shore leave to all who asked for it. 
I suppose he assumed that the English examiners 
at Gibraltar had allowed none but the right per- 
sons to proceed as far as Naples. However, it 
seemed to me a hazardous assumption under the 
circumstances, for immediately at the dock where 
the tender landed us was the "America," laden 
with troops and munitions and preparing to sail 
in a few hours for a port near the Austrian 
frontier. It would have been easy for an ad- 
herent of Germany or Austria to hurl a bomb 
from the shore. An Italian passenger said that 
immediately upon his arrival in Rome he would 
notify the War Office of the indiscretion of the 
authorities in permitting passengers from our 



16 WARTIME LETTERS 

ship to roam at will about Naples without having 
first examined their papers. 

Those of us who are remaining here over 
night, however, were required to deliver our 
passports to the manager of the hotel and to sign 
three papers in which we had to give most of our 
life's history and our purpose in coming to Italy 
in such troublous times. These papers will have 
to be approved at police headquarters before we 
shall be allowed to proceed to Rome to-morrow. 

Naples is proverbially light-hearted, and there 
is as much laughter and song as when I was here 
six years ago. The boys from Santa Lucia again 
met the ship and dived for coins. There were 
the same noisy "runners" from the hotels, each 
asserting the ease with which he could get pros- 
pective clients through the customs. And, un- 
fortunately, there were again many men and 
women with hideous deformities who always 
managed to place themselves where one must 
either fall over them or thrust them unfeelingly 
aside. But I was relieved to find absent one dis- 
agreeable feature of my last landing. Six years 



FROM ITALY 17 

ago, a woman held out to an American doctor 
and myself a baby whose eyelids were closed by 
what seemed to be a particularly offensive form 
of eye disease. Before we landed, the doctor had 
told me it was the custom of some beggars to- 
paint on their faces and arms simulations of 
loathsome diseases or wounds. Despite the 
woman's protests and threats, the doctor took 
the baby from her arms and examined its eye- 
lids, from which exuded large brown drops. 
These he found to be of sealing-wax, with which 
she had tightly closed the infant's eyelids. The 
doctor demanded that the woman be arrested, 
and afterwards he wrote a strong letter to the 
Societa pro Napoli, whose purpose is the better- 
ment of the city. Apparently the Societa took 
action, for the beggars who importuned us this 
time were only those who through amputations 
had been rendered unfit to do honest work. The 
Societa pro Napoli has done fine work in the 
past six years in eliminating a certain class of 
undesirables who used to make landing at 
Naples a thing to be dreaded, and perhaps some 



18 WARTIME LETTERS 

day this beautiful city will learn that with the 
right kind of treatment tourists would linger 
there as long as they now do in other cities of 
Italy w^hich are not so interesting but which offer 
a stronger feeling of security. 

Italy is proceeding as calmly as if mobilization 
were a daily custom. There is none of the con- 
fusion that existed in France and England at the 
beginning of the war. Most of the fast trains 
are running on schedule time, and to-morrow 
we shall probably be as comfortable on the Rome 
express as we should be in tempo normale. This 
calmness must be a great disappointment to 
those passengers who expected to find Italy so 
demoralized that they would be compelled to 
walk from Naples to Rome. 



ROME— AT THE QUESTURA 

A New Englander and myself were the only 
Americans on the ten o'clock express from 
Naples, and we soon had evidence that all for- 
eigners in Italy are regarded with suspicion at 
this time. Nearly all the other passengers in 
our car were officers en route to their regiments 
in northern Italy. They all took occasion to 
stand a moment at the door of our compartment 
and look us over carefully. Several of them 
asked the conductor what nationality the 
stranieri were. We had thought we looked suf- 
ficiently American not to require the additional 
support of the small flags provided by friends at 
home and so had not worn them. We purposely 
raised our voices in talking, and frequently made 
use of the "guess" and "reckon" which most for- 
eigners regard as indispensable to a Yankee's 
vocabulary. I "guess" this was convincing, for 
when we went later into the dining-car we met 
only the friendliest of glances. 

At Caserta we passed a field in which were 



20 WARTIME LETTERS 

forty thousand horses from the United States. 
An Italian friend has since told me that another 
forty thousand died on the way over, presumably 
from having been herded too closely together, 
and that an investigation is now being conducted 
to fix the responsibility for so costly a loss. 

The New Englander went on to Florence and 
I paid twelve cents to "taxi" to a small hotel 
near the Piazza del Popolo. There I again had 
to fill in and sign forms similar to those required 
by the police in Naples. Pasted conspicuously 
on the wall was also a notice that within twenty- 
four hours of arrival in Rome, all foreigners 
must present themselves for interrogation 
at the Questura in the Collegio Romano. As the 
notice intimated that a fine of one thousand lire 
would follow non-compliance within the time 
specified, I thought myself justified in spending 
another twelve cents for an immediate drive to 
the inquisitors of the Questura. Within ten min- 
utes I was facing a row of stern-faced men 
whose duty it was to see that no one hostile to 
Italy was permitted to remain in Rome. They 



^ FROM ITALY 21 

were courteous, but quickly made me feel that I 
was there to prove my honorable intentions. I 
had taken the precaution to procure a semi- 
formal certificate of respectability from a judge 
of the Supreme Court of my State, and had also 
brought cards of membership in several Ameri- 
can associations. All of these were carefully 
studied. 

"Your passport states you a writer,'' said a 
bald gentleman who looked like Julius Caesar. 
"I hope you are not a journalist," he added, 
suspiciously. ^'Because journalists cause a great 
deal of trouble in war times." 

I assured him that I had no connection with 
any newspaper, but did not add that I wished I 
had. 

"Well," he said finally, "I think you are an 
honest American, but be careful what you write 
about, for all your letters will be read by the 
censor, and if you criticise us adversely we may 
have to send you home." 

I promised to be good and told him that sev- 
eral times I had done everything but murder in 



22 WARTIME LETTERS 

order to spend some months with his delightful 
countrymen. He laughed, offered me his 
cigarette case and instructed the clerk to give 
me a printed ''permesso'' to stay in Rome. He 
advised me never to go on the street without it 
in my pocket and to show it willingly to any 
police or army officer who asked for it. 

There is real necessity for carrying this 
''permesso/' There have been several assaults 
on persons who were suspected of being spies, 
but most of them were in the suburbs of Rome 
and by ignorant contadini, to whom everyone 
not Italian is an enemy seeking information. A 
fair-haired Englishwoman who had been mar- 
ried for twenty years to an Italian was hurried 
to jail at Frascati by an angry mob and kept 
there for several hours. She was examining a 
map of the locaHty in a guide-book, and what 
would have seemed natural in normal times was 
in tempo di guerra construed by the excited con- 
tadini as an attempt at spying. Her husband 
seemed amused at her adventure, but I am told 



FROM ITALY 23 

that she has not yet been able to see the funny- 
side of it. 

The day that war was declared, a crowd 
gathered before the Hotel Savoia and threatened 
to bum down the place, unless the German man- 
ager left Rome. He took the first train north- 
ward bound. 

I think that if one were bored he could have 
an interesting but perilous half-hour by simply 
replying ''Ja^' to any question asked him in a 
public place. Even on shop windows that bear 
the sign "English, French and Spanish spoken 
here" there is a space showing where the word 
'^German" has been cut away or painted out. 

Outside of the attaches at the Embassy there 
are probably not three American men in Rome. 
In six days I have seen only one, and he has 
lived here for several years. He hailed me as 
a fellow-countryman and seemed glad to talk 
to someone from *'home." I noticed that in ad- 
dition to a small American flag he wore on the 
lapel of his coat the button of the Sons of the 
Revolution and a tiny Italian flag. This Ameri- 



24 WARTIME LETTERS 

can said he had a laundress who also did special 
work in her line for the Austrian embassy and 
that the day the ambassador left Rome she re- 
ceived a note saying, "Send home the laundry 
immediately, wet or dry!' 

'Wet or dry !" she laughed. "Believe, signore, 
that I managed to have that lingerie very wetT 

There are practically none but Italians in 
Rome. Most of the big hotels that cater to tour- 
ists are partially closed, and some of them en- 
tirely so, with a sign on the door announcing that 
they will not re-open until the war is over. The 
pensions are not earning enough to pay their 
servants. 

I have seen but one seller of postcards on the 
street, and as I meet him every time I leave the 
hotel, I fancy he regards me as his only pros- 
pective customer. In normal times at this sea- 
son the Piazza di Spagna, Gardens of the Pincio 
and vicinity of the Forum are noisily alive with 
the too-persistent sellers of postcards and 
mosaics. 

Rome is usually serious, but the soldiers are 



FROM ITALY 25 

making it as lively as Naples. They are making 
the most of the time before their call to the front 
and are as gay as if they faced only a carnival 
later on. Battle scenes at the "movies" are very 
popular. Despite the horrible realism of some 
of them the soldiers in the audience show no 
signs of apprehension, but, on the contrary, give 
distinct evidence of their restless desire to get 
into action. 



GOOD-NATURED OFFICERS 

At my hotel are thirty-nine soldiers, five of 
whom are men of title who will serve in the 
ranks, for which they will receive three cents a 
day as pay. The thirty-nine are disobeying regu- 
lations, which require that while awaiting trans- 
portation to the front, all soldiers must sleep in 
the barracks. The men are accompanied by their 
families, who came with them to Rome so as 
to spend every possible moment with them be- 
fore they are hurried northward under cover of 
night, which is when all troop trains are dis- 
patched. To sleep in barracks means just that 
much less time in the company of their families, 
and much less comfort, too, so the thirty-nine 
sleep on real beds until the landlord calls them, 
at four-thirty in the morning. Then they leave 
for the barracks, crawl in a window, stretch out 
on their piles of straw and are ready for roll 
call. Last week, ten other men were enjoying 
the same luxury at this hotel, but their captain 
appeared unexpectedly one night and ordered 



28 WARTIME LETTERS 

them off to the barracks. "To-night, my dear 
boys, you will sleep on the hay," he said, "or go 
to jail!" He smiled as he said it, and the men 
understood that only the command of his 
superior officer had caused him to go to all the 
hotels in Rome and round-up delinquents. The 
thirty-nine expect to be discovered at any time, 
but, as one of them said, that possibility only 
makes their present transgression the more en- 
joyable. 

The whip is not cracked very often over the 
heads of the men who are awaiting their turn 
to go northward. The attitude of the officers 
is a tolerant one. There will be plenty of dis- 
cipline later on. In the meantime, Rome belongs 
to the soldier lad, and he is not allowed to pay 
for tobacco, drinks or theatre tickets if the citi- 
zens "see him first." 

The first aeroplane scare took place last night. 
I was walking on the Via Nazionale at ten 
o'clock, at which time the street is always crowd- 
ed with people, when suddenly all lights were 
extinguished, including those in the shops and 



FROM ITALY 29 

cafes. It is impossible to describe the sensations 
of one walking in utter darkness among thou- 
sands of other human beings, all of them be- 
wildered and apprehensive, whose presence one 
can feel but cannot see. The sky was clouded 
over and the thousands walked with outstretched 
hands, like the blind, reaching out for some ob- 
ject the outline of which might give an idea as 
to where they were. Tramcars stopped and one 
could hear the nervous stamping of carriage 
horses and the curses of their drivers. The 
darkness lasted only ten minutes, but it gave us 
an impression of what night must mean just 
now in Venice, which is unlighted from sunset 
to dawn. 

We learned this morning that the lookouts 
stationed at Tivoli had telephoned to Rome that 
an aeroplane had been sighted, but so far no one 
has reported having seen it above Rome last 
night. Lookouts are stationed at all the hill 
towns about the city and an observation balloon 
floats above Monte Mario, just at the left of St. 
Peter's. 



30 WARTIME LETTERS 

It is thought to be impossible for hostile air 
craft to get safely over the mountains that lie 
between Rome and the Adriatic coast, and re- 
ports are current that if there are enemy planes 
near Rome they have been constructed from 
parts which were stored in villas which belong to 
Austrians or Germans. 

Nobody on the streets seems to take the pos- 
sibility of an air raid seriously. One Roman 
hails another by asking him to come to the Cafe 
Aragno, from which a good view of the destruc- 
tion of the colossal Victor Emanuel monument 
may be had. Nevertheless, the authorities have 
posted a proclamation to-day instructing the citi- 
zens how to conduct themselves should the aero- 
planes come. Blue globes are also being placed 
on all the street lights, it having been found that 
a particular shade of blue is inconspicuous from 
a great height. 

In case word should come from a hill town 
that an aeroplane has been sighted, boy scouts 
and special policemen mounted on bicycles will 
race through the streets blowing bugles, at the 



FROM ITALY 31 

sound of which citizens are expected to- take 
shelter within the nearest buildings, the shutters 
of which must be closed immediately, so that no 
gleams of light may escape. 

From observations made a few evenings ago 
it was found that the only structure which stands 
out conspicuously from an altitude of more than 
two thousand feet is the newly-finished monu- 
ment to Victor Emanuel, that huge, dazzling- 
white edifice which represents nearly twenty 
million lire. Not all Romans find the monu- 
ment in good taste. I heard one of them say at 
Cafe Aragno the other evening that except for 

the litter it would make in the Piazza Venezia 

He didn't finish his sentence, but several men 
around laughingly agreed with his implication. 



FESTA DELLO STATUTO 

Every day one hears of the expulsion of 
Tedeschi who, living in seclusion in a remote 
part of the city, had believed themselves safe. 
The possession of blonde hair and blue eyes re- 
quires a lot of explaining, and English people are 
careful to place a British flag conspicuously by 
the side of the Italian colors that everyone car- 
ries pinned to his clothing. As my own hair is 
black and my skin tanned to an Italian shade, 
my nationality has not yet been questioned. Per- 
haps I look unquestionably American — at least I 
hope that I do. I am sure that my shoes and 
clothes are distinctively "United States'' in ap- 
pearance ; and it is often by their clothing, rath- 
er than their physical traits, that Americans are 
distinguished from the people of other countries. 

Thousands of school children, working in 
pairs, patrol the streets. One carries a money- 
box and the other a basket filled with silk poppies 
of the Italian colors, red, green and white. It 
would take a great deal of courage or meanness 



34 WARTIME LETTERS 

to repulse a child who attempted to pin a poppy 
on one's coat, for the money goes to the wives 
and children of those soldiers without means 
who are in the war. Everyone gladly gives a 
lira or two for what is really a very handsome 
decoration. Seen from a distance, the people on 
the streets look like a field of animated poppies. 
Yesterday was the Festa dello Statuto (Festi- 
val of the Constitution), and this morning the 
Romani must be a very tired people after their 
patriotic debauch. For two hours I stood in a 
subway crush in the Piazza del Quirinale, while 
the sun blazed remorselessly upon the hundred 
thousand people who crowded even the roofs of 
the buildings for a block around. The papers do 
not greatly exaggerate when they say that the 
piazza groaned under the weight of the patriots. 
There was already scarcely standing room when 
thirty thousand members of various social 
organizations arrived from their demonstration 
in the Piazza del Popolo and forced their way 
into the sweltering crowd. A great many women 
and children fainted in the crush and had to be 



FR03I ITALY 35 

lifted above the vsea of heads and carried on up- 
raised hands to a clearing between the Palazzo 
Reale and the lined-up carabinieri who formed a 
guard. 

Just when the thousands were becoming im- 
patiently bored from the long, hot waiting, a 
ragged boy carrying the entwined Italian and 
Belgian flags snatched the plumed hat from the 
head of a good-natured soldier of the 
Bersaglieri, placed it atop the flags and waved 
it above the heads of the people, who revived at 
the sight and shouted ''Viva V Italia! Evviva la 
quadruplice alleanza!" 

Perhaps royalty had been waiting for such a 
dramatic moment, for a trumpet sounded and 
Queen Elena, her four children. Queen Mar- 
gherita and the Duke of Genoa appeared on a 
balcony. For five minutes they bowed like state- 
ly mannikins, while the populace waved hats and 
flags and shouted their admiration. The Duke 
of Genoa tried to read a message from the King, 
who is at the front, but got no further than his 
sovereign's name, for the hundred thousand sent 



36 WARTIME LETTERS 

up a cry that must have reached to the cam- 
pagna. Queen Elena waved a handkerchief and 
the beautiful Margherita fluttered hers and 
smiled in a way that reminded me of Sembrich 
receiving the plaudits of her loving subjects on 
that famous farewell night at the Metropolitan 
Opera House. 

Evidently Margherita is first in the hearts of 
the Romani, for they shouted even more lustily 
than before and kissed their hands to her. 

The royal family solemnly withdrew, but 
the people stayed, demanding another appear- 
ance. Finally the Crown Prince came out again, 
a tiny figure with a rather frightened expression 
on his face. With him were a soldier and a 
sailor, in their everyday uniforms. This last 
pull at the sentiment of the people had full ef- 
fect; the air was filled with flying hats, some 
more women fainted, trumpets shrilled, and men 
cracked their throats with shouts of "Long live 
Umberto ! Long live the Army and the Navy !" 
The little prince, too bewildered to smile, cried 
''Long live the People !" but his boyish voice was 



FROM ITALY 37 

drowned in tlie blare of trumpets and the mighty 
clapping of a quarter million hands. 

Unwearied, the Romani went at night to the 
brilliantly lighted Piazza Colonna to hear the 
l)and play. They clamored for the Marcia Reale, 
which had to be repeated three times. Then 
someone called for the Marseillaise, and the peo- 
ple of Paris themselves could not have sung with 
more thrilling power than did their allies in the 
Piazza Colonna, 

The Bersaglieri called for the Garibaldi 
Hymn, and while thousands of singing voices 
drowned out the band, Nicolo Rovera, an aged 
Garibaldian from Palermo, was hoisted to the 
shoulders of two sturdy soldiers and carried in 
procession around the Piazza, his eyes flashing 
as he held the flag of Italy pressed closely against 
his red shirt. Nicolo Rovera will spend the rest 
of his days telling the good people of Palermo 
how the Romani honored him on the Festa dello 
Statuto, 

The Romans always arrange at least one big 
joke for their festas. Last night the Palazzo 



38 WARTIME LETTERS 

Chigi, from which the Austrian Ambassador de- 
parted hurriedly a fortnight ago, had on it a 
huge sign— D'AFFIT ARE (To Let). 

The earthquake last January caused the 
statue of St. Paul on top of the Column of Mar- 
cus Aurelius in the Piazza Colonna to shift its 
position, and the Romans declared that the saint 
had deliberately turned his back on the Austrian 
Embassy. 



A FORFEITED HONOR 

Chevalier Rinaldi, who handles the artistic end 
of the Cines Company, makers of the famous 
Quo Vadis film, belongs to the Associazione 
Artistica Internationale, which includes in its 
membership men of all nationalities who as pa- 
trons or creators have figured prominently in the 
fine arts. He told me that the Kaiser was made 
a member several years ago, but that the associa- 
tion held a special meeting the other day and 
with solemn formality struck his name from the 
list, declaring that the past year had shown him 
to be, not a protector but a wanton destroyer of 
the arts. In his place they elected D'Annunzio 
to membership. 

It was also voted that the association recom- 
mend to the government the seizure of the beau- 
tiful Villa Falconieri at Frascati, belonging to the 
Kaiser, as well as the Villa d'Este, the property 
of Austria. The association also called the at- 
tention of the government to the fact that not 
only did Germany own the Palazzo Caffarelli, 



40 WARTIME LETTERS 

immediately next to the Campidoglio, but that 
little by little she had also acquired many other 
properties in this most historic part of all Rome, 
lying as it does imm.ediately above the Forum. 

Most of the automobiles have already been 
requisitioned, and to-day there is posted on every 
corner in Rome a notice that all owners of 
motorcycles must present their machines at mili- 
tary headquarters, equipped with repair kits, the 
contents of which the notice details, not omitting 
even the well-filled oil can. The government 
agrees to pay market prices for the cycles and 
will in addition allow a premium for those which 
have been unusually well-kept. 

By the side of this notice is one which regu- 
lates the prices of provisions. Anyone who ex- 
torts more than the amounts stipulated can be 
arrested upon complaint of the victim. 

So far, there has been little apprehension re- 
garding the food supply. Women always have 
done most of the work in fields and gardens, 
so the absence of men will have but little eflfect 
upon the cultivating and gathering of crops. 



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FROM ITALY 41 

Much of the grain, however, has to be imported^ 
and because of the scarcity of ships the price of 
wheat has advanced. Accordingly, "war" bread 
is in order. It is not good to look at, this mix- 
ture of potato, rice and wheat flours, but we are 
assured by the food experts that it is more 
wholesome than bread made from white flour 
only. It is a dirty gray in color and strong teeth 
are needed to masticate it, but the taste is 
delicious. 

In to-day's heat came another hailstorm,^ 
which was not so bad, however, as the two 
storms of last week, when bits of ice the size of 
marbles cut faces and hands and cracked glass 
in the windows. The trams stopped and many 
women passengers dropped to their knees and 
prayed — not for their personal safety, but that 
no damage might come to the crops at this 
momentous time. Fortunately, most of the 
damage was confined to Rome. But the peasants 
in the country thought the last great day had 
come, for at eleven in the morning, the skies 



42 WARTIME LETTERS 

were like midnight and a shrieking wind added 
its quota of terror. 

The "newsboys" here are mostly women, lusty 
Amazons with resonant baritone voices that car- 
ry a great distance as their owners race along the 
streets shouting the latest editions. 

The ''Giornale d' Italia'' most closely approach- 
es the New York dailies in its publishing and 
distributing methods. It gets out several edi- 
tions, and usually an "extra" at ten or eleven at 
night. Bulletins are posted in front of its offices 
in the Palazzo Sciarra on the Corso every few 
minutes, and a huge map similar to that on the 
"Herald" building shows the movements of the 
different armies. Also, like the "Herald" and the 
"Globe," it makes a display of presses and work- 
men, and there is always a large audience watch- 
ing the rattling machinery and hustling printers. 
The hundred of women and boys scrambling for 
papers hot from the presses, auto-trucks rushing 
off the editions to distant parts of the city, the 
voices cheering the bulletins, the angry argu- 
ments from loiterers — all this suggests Park 



FROM ITALY 43 

Row or Times Square more than it does the City 
of the CoHseum. 

Women also began yesterday to serve as con- 
ductors on those street cars which are owned by 
the municipahty. They are chiefly the wives or 
sisters of men called to the war. Some of them 
are very good-looking, and it is evident that 
many of the male passengers have to struggle 
hard to prevent their susceptibility to feminine 
beauty from dominating the respect they feel for 
these brave women. 

There is a girl of unknown nationality who 
just now is the talk of Rome, largely because of 
her beauty and unusual costume. My own 
thought is that she is an advertisement and that 
in a few days her portrait will appear on the bill- 
boards as star of a new moving-picture drama. 
She is handsome, with a graceful figure which 
appears to advantage in a dress made as nearly 
like the uniform of the Bersaglieri as it is pos- 
sible for feminine apparel to be. Her hat is a 
duplicate of that worn by them. Tilted smartly, 
with a cascade of cock feathers over one side. 



44 WARTIME LETTERS 

it is perhaps the most becoming hat that either 
man or maid could wear. Even the heavy 
physiognomy of some of the contadini takes on a 
certain jauntiness beneath such headgear. 

This girl always comes to the Cafe Aragna 
at six o'clock, when the sidewalk tables are 
crowded with soldiers and citizens taking their 
caffe espresso, and whenever she appears she is 
followed by a crowd of admirers, to whom she 
pays no attention except a dazzling smile now 
and then at some particularly audacious com- 
pliment. As the Bersaglieri are the idols of 
Italy, brave youths held in affectionate esteem, 
the young woman has chosen a very effective 
form of reclame, and I predict a great success, 
for whatever she may be advertising. 



AN AUSTRIAN INVITATION 

The street in front of the building occupied by 
the ''Giornale d'ltalia" is constantly crowded by 
persons interested in the war bulletins, meagre 
as these are. On all of the bulletins is now 
pasted a yellow **sticker/' reading : "Italians ! Be 
careful not to discuss in a crowd anything you 
may know of war plans, and if you suspect the 
presence of a spy, denounce him to the authori- 
ties. It is your duty to be constantly on guard." 

The Giornale also displays in a frame one of 
the circulars which the Austrians shot into a 
camp of Italian soldiers, inviting them to de- 
sert and come across the line into Austria, where 
they would be given of the best to eat, drink and 
smoke, would be comfortably housed, and al- 
lowed full liberty, as well as spending money. 
The circular also gives the sums that will be paid 
for military equipment which the deserters may 
bring with them, ranging from forty lire for a 
gun to two thousand lire for an aeroplane. The 
Austrians seem to share Germany's belief in a 



46 WARTIME LETTERS 

partnership with God, for the circular confident- 
ly states that Heaven will reward every Italian 
who will come over to Austria ! Needless to say, 
this insult has not lessened the Italian fury. 

I heard a story to-day of one the good- 
natured, democratic traits of the little Crown 
Prince which make him so much beloved by his 
people. Since the King left for the front, the 
Prince, who is only twelve years old, has had 
to represent him on many public occasions, but 
it has not turned his head, nor spoiled his boyish- 
ness. Accompanied by his bodyguard, he always 
goes to the railroad station to wish good luck to 
the regiments bound for the front. The other day 
a young Englishwoman was taken by her Italian 
hostess to witness the ceremony. When she 
saw the Crown prince, the Englishwoman, not 
knowing that he speaks English perfectly, called 
out to him, ''Oh, you dear little boy, God bless 
you!" Her hostess gasped at the informality, 
but the Prince waved his sailor cap and replied, 
"Thank you, dear madam ; God bless the Eng- 
lish!" When he passed again on his way from 



FROM ITALY 47 

the train he carried a bouquet of roses, which he 
presented to the EngHshwoman. The ItaHan lady- 
has since told me that she trembled lest her im- 
pulsive English friend gather the little Prince 
up in her arms and hug him. My own opinion 
is that he would have enjoyed it immensely and 
would probably have "hugged back." 



CIVILIAN ASSISTANCE 

The government can allow only a small sum 
weekly to the families of fighting men, but this 
is being supplemented by money raised by vari- 
ous social organizations through lotteries, enter- 
tainments, and the sale of special stamps, of 
artistic design. The conductors of the tramways 
have supplies of these stamps, and all good citi- 
zens add an extra soldo when paying their fare. 

Those people who have employment and are 
not liable to military service have pledged one 
day's wages each month to a fund for the fami- 
lies of the 'Wichiamati," as the men on the fight- 
ing line are called. 

Each district in the city has its public kitchen, 
where cooked food is sold at low prices. In 
addition, there are places where dinners are 
served free of charge to wives and children of 
the poorer soldiers. The food is donated by 
daughters of prosperous families and is cooked 
and served by them. The people of means are 
doing everything they can, both through money 



50 WARTIME LETTERS 

and personal service, to lighten the burden of the 
families whose men are absent at the front. All 
class barriers are down and the whole spirit of 
Italy seems to be one of eager service. 

Even the horses at the front are having their 
lottery. A society called the Blue Cross is rais- 
ing money in this way to secure veterinary ser- 
vice for horses injured in the war. Prizes do- 
nated by charitable residents of Rome are dis- 
played in windows of shops along the Corso, 
with the names of the donors attached. Among 
them is a wrist watch of gold and enamel, of- 
fered by *'Sua Excellenza, la Signora Page," the 
wife of our ambassador. The tickets cost only a 
lira and include admittance to the gardens of the 
British Embassy, where a band will play next 
Sunday and Lady Rodd, the ambassador's wife, 
will pour tea while the drawing takes place. 

This morning's papers praise "the good 
hearts" of the American residents of Florence, 
who have given a large hospital for use of 
wounded soldiers. The announcement states 
that as yet it has not been found necessary to use 



FROM ITALY 51 

any of the beds. It is believed here that so far 
the casualty list is small, but this is only a sur- 
mise, as no lists are made public, the dead and 
wounded being reported direct to their families. 

The bald places in the newspapers are increas- 
ing and there is much dissatisfaction with a cen- 
sorship that eliminates everything that is not of 
the most trivial character. The editors of the 
Roman newspapers are particularly indignant 
with their censor, claiming that the papers of 
Florence and Milan are permitted to print news 
which for some unexplained reason is not al- 
lowed to appear in the Roman papers, and that 
because of this they are losing money, as the 
people ignore their home papers and subscribe 
to those which are printed in other cities. 

The experiment of employing women con- 
ductors on the trams to replace the brothers or 
husbands called to the war is not proving en- 
tirely successful. Of course every country is 
afflicted with men who think themselves so 
handsome or fascinating that any woman will 
welcome their attentions. Italy has its share of 



52 WARTIME LETTERS 

such persecutors and they are taking full ad- 
vantage of this unusual opportunity to indulge 
their worst inclinations. Because the number of 
cars has been greatly reduced, there is now about 
as much comfort in travelling in them as there is 
in our own subway cars in the rush hours and the 
fair conductors are sometimes much annoyed by 
these ''mashers," who become too affectionate 
under cover of the crowd. Then, too, there are 
young ruffians like those we sometimes have in 
New York on Sundays and holidays, who find it 
a manly sport to hamper the woman conductor 
in her work by refusing to pay fares, ringing the 
bell incessantly or by not permitting her to pass 
from one part of the car to another. 

Last week on tram No. i6, which runs from 
the railroad station to St. Peter's, three of these 
roughs refused to pay their fares, stating that 
they held passes. When requested to produce 
them, they laughed and said they had left them 
at home. The woman insisted upon having the 
fares, but the men became so insulting and 
abusive that she was afraid to say anything 



_^^ FROM ITALY 53 

more, so paid the fares herself. The young men 
were so violent in their threats that none of the 
other passengers dared protest at the time, but 
one of them left the car and hunted up a half- 
dozen husky cardbinieri, who almost killed the 
men in the scuffle that took place. The press and 
public are showing so much anger over these af- 
fronts to the dependent wives and sisters of sol- 
diers who are fighting for their country that 
when these particular "toughs" are able to leave 
the hospital they will probably receive sentences 
long enough to discourage other ruffians, and 
perhaps even the mashers, too. 

There is now a sign in all the cars, reading: 
"The directors are convinced that the public will 
be considerate and polite to the lady conductors.'* 



THE RAG FAIR 

For sake of interesting memories of other 
years I went to-day to the Campo di Fiori to 
seek the "Rag Fair/' but alas! the woe that is 
upon Italy has also touched the usually festive 
**Field of Flowers/' where in other centuries 
murderers used to be executed. To-day I found 
only vegetables being sold there. The Rag 
Fair, beloved of Americans, is no more, at least 
during the war. It is one of the many affairs 
that are postponed until the good-natured, 
money-spending Americani come again to Italy. 

Every good American used to go to this fair, 
as he also went to drink at the Fountain of Trevi 
and cast his coin therein, that his return to Rome 
might be assured. This morning I saw small 
boys wading in the fountain, peering into the 
depths, in uncertain hope of finding some coins 
that remained from the gay and prosperous years 
when Rome was invaded by the Americans, all 
of whom are millionaires, or at least show a 
cheerful disregard for small sums. 



56 WARTIME LETTERS 

I think the average tourist well knows that the 
Rag Fair has afforded no real bargains these 
last few years, but one feels a certain sense of 
opulence in plunging one's hands deep into 
buckets filled with topazes, amethysts and gar- 
nets, which at home are usually shown in modest 
trays holding a dozen or so. By the time the 
American duty is paid, the unset gems have cost 
quite as much as they would at a Fifth Avenue 
shop; but glittering jewels by bucketfuUs are a 
novelty, and it is for thrills that we pay without 
questioning, the joy of buying something in a 
foreign land, and the opportunity to say to ad- 
miring friends, "Yes, I bought that at the Rag 
Fair in Rome!" 

There was a time, many years ago, when the 
Rag Fair afforded real bargains. It was then in 
some respects a thieves' market, where articles 
dishonestly acquired had to be quickly sold 
for whatever price could be had. But when 
Italians who had been robbed turned first to this 
fair to seek their property, the market began to 
assume another character. The tradition of 



FROM ITALY 57 

"something for nothing" persists, however, to 
this day to a certain extent, so that in normal 
times the Campo di Fiori is crowded once a week 
with people who hope to find unset gems and real 
antiques at low prices. 

One "antique" in great favor is the so-called 
"Dante" lamp. These lamps are bought by the 
hundred, exposed to the weather until well-tar- 
nished, then carted to the Rag Fair to be sold to 
the gullible, who pay solid-brass prices for many 
pounds of lead lightly sheathed in yellow metal. 

(That my prized Italian friends may not be 
offended at what they may consider an unfriend- 
ly criticism, I wish to state that every large city 
in the United States has "curiosity" shops that 
are miniature Rag Fairs, the only difference be- 
ing that in Rome one pays less for spurious 
antiques than he does in New York, Philadelphia 
or Boston.) 

There are also at the fair crests of golden 
thread embroidered on velvet, purporting to be 
from furniture and hangings which were once in 
the Barberini palace. But most of the celebrated 



58 WARTIME LETTERS 

Barberini bees are probably made in Manchester, 
and the Dante lamps may have come from Allen 
Street in New York, where in the shadow of the 
**L" the Russians turn out brass that is solid 
and brass that is not. 

The Rag Fair can, however, provide an hour 
of unflagging interest, and if an intending pur- 
chaser will content himself with unset semi- 
precious stones, ecclesiastical embroideries and 
silver articles for which no antiquity is claimed, 
he may, infrequently, get such things at prices 
somewhat lower than those charged in shops on 
the Corso or the Via Nazionale. At any rate, 
he will find much that is amusing in the trans- 
actions going on about him, and the chances are 
that even though subconsciously he feels that 
he will be fleeced he will end by buying some- 
thing, if only "for the fun of it." 

The war has also touched the lottery, that 
eternal hope of the lower classes. Tickets for a 
lottery of five hundred thousand lire have been 
on sale for several months, the prizes ranging 
from the big one, of two hundred thousand lire, 



FROM ITALY 59 

to those of fifty lire each, and it is safe to say 
that everyone in Italy has a ticket. I know one 
American who plunged to the extent of three 
lire, and he is just as much disappointed as the 
natives to find posted at every street corner to- 
day a notice that the drawing is indefinitely post- 
poned. The government evidently realizes how 
much the citizens love their lottery, for the an- 
nouncement is in almost plaintive terms, appeal- 
ing to the patriotism of the people and saying 
they must believe that war alone could have com- 
pelled a postponement. 

Next to this poster is one asking for popu- 
lar subscriptions to a war loan, in sums of one 
hundred to twenty thousand lire, to be issued at 
95, bear interest at 4^%, and be repaid within 
twenty-five years. All the newspapers are ap- 
pealing to the citizens to respond as nobly as did 
the people of other warring countries. One of 
the journals ends all its columns with big type 
reading, *'He who can subscribe to the war loan 
and will not do so is a traitor to his country." 



EXIT MAXIMILIAN, HAIL 
COLUMBUS * 

The individual cases of suffering, and not the 
benumbing big catastrophes, make one most 
keenly realize the cruelties of war. At the small 
hotel where I am staying is a widow who is 
alone in the world except for one son, only 
twenty-one, and frail, for whose instruction in 
law his mother has for three years paid the 
greater part of her small income. He was about 
to be taken into the office of a firm of lawyers 
here when he received his call to the front. The 
mother obtained a delay of a few days, during 
which she tried to have him retained for service 
in Rome, pleading his poor health as the reason. 
Mother and son plainly showed strain while 
awaiting the decision that would mean so much 
to them. The letter was delivered by messenger 
while they were at dinner one evening. We who 
Icnew the circumstances suffered with the mother 
as she watched the face of her boy when he 

'* Reprinted by permission of the ti^ew York Evening Post. 



62 WARTIME LETTERS 

opened the letter. She read the answer in his 
eyes, for we saw old age come suddenly upon 
her. Her face grew livid, and her shoulders bent 
as she received the blow. 

"You are all I have in the world, and they take 
you from me !" 

All the scenes of ruined homes, of starving 
peasants, of battlefields upon which lay thou- 
sands of dead and dying men have not arraigned 
for me those men responsible for war as did the 
helpless cry from that woman's heart. 

But when the moment came for him to go, 
she smiled, and he smiled back, as is the way of 
mothers and sons at such times, each for the 
sake of the other. 

The censorship is becoming increasingly 
severe, and nowhere else are correspondents of 
newspapers so hampered as they are here. A 
man from the ''Giornale d'ltalia'' did make his 
way through the lines, but was made prisoner, 
and released only upon his signing an agree- 
ment to write nothing of what he saw or heard 
while in camp. He kept his promise, for his 



FROM ITALY 63 

article gives no details of men or their move- 
ments, nor the names of towns through which 
he passed in returning to Rome. Despite the 
ban upon real news, he managed, however, to 
make a readable page of gossip of the little 
things that hold much human interest. 

He writes, for instance, that in the village of 
"X" he saw in the public square an unusually 
fine statue of Maximilian, which the citizens 
have rechristened Christopher Columbus ! A less 
thrifty community might have destroyed the 
statue, but it was a real work of art and the chief 
decoration of their humble village, so they simply 
chiselled out the Austrian '^Maximilian," carved 
in "Christoforo Colombo," hung the statue with 
flowers and made a festa of dance and song. 
What's in a name, anyway, when it comes to 
statues? The miscalled Antinous of the Vati- 
can renamed "Augustus" would still be Praxi- 
teles ; and the sculptor of Maximilian-Columbus 
seems to have been a master, too. 

This representative of the ''Giornale d'ltalia'' 
writes that the authorities of all towns where 



64 WARTIME LETTERS 

soldiers are encamped or where there are 
Austrian prisoners or wounded Italians, have 
orders to expel all journalists, Italian or foreign, 
immediately upon arrival and that although pro- 
vided with papers from persons of influence in 
Rome he was expelled from one place after 
another, each time being forced to travel south, 
farther away from the scenes of military activ- 
ity. He writes as if he were the only corre- 
spondent who has succeeded in getting beyond 
the lines, and suggests that all other articles but 
his have been written in cafes far from the 
scene of action. The people in Rome seem to 
share his belief that most of what purports to 
come from the front is pure fiction, and they give 
credence only to the dozen or so lines published 
daily over the signature of General Cardona, in 
whose sincerity they have full belief. 

An old Italian friend came upon me the other 
day in the Piazza Venezia as I was reading a cer- 
tain daily newspaper. **Ah!" he said; "you, too, 

buy the . You know that is the paper of 

which we Romans say: 'Nobody buys it, but 



FROM ITALY 65 

everybody reads it' — with the title-page turned 
inside," he added, smiling. 

This paper daily prints three columns headed, 
"Against Spying," and invites letters from 
readers regarding experiences with persons whom 
they suspect of being spies. These letters, writ- 
ten mostly by ignorant people, serve only to keep 
others of the same unintelligent, unreasoning 
class in a state of fanatical apprehension and ex- 
citement. 

From the tone of some of the letters one is 
led to think that perhaps this opportunity is be- 
ing taken advantage of to satisfy some ancient 
grudges, for many of the letters are directed 
against native Italians. No names of persons 
are given, but localities are, together with physi- 
cal descriptions of the suspects. Here is a sam- 
ple letter : 

"Yesterday, as I was walking on the Via Gari- 
baldi, I saw an Italian girl speaking with two 
men who looked like Austrians. I crept up, and 
while pretending to look in a store window I 
listened. I could not distinguish the words, but 



66 WARTIME LETTERS 

the accent was Austrian. This girl, who is per- 
haps a traitress, I recognized as one I had often 
seen in Via So-and-So. She has brown eyes and 
white skin. Under her right eye is a small mole, 
and she wears a green hat on which are white 
feathers. She has a bad eye and I always have 
mistrusted her. Should she not be denounced to 
the police?" 

It is this same paper which raises the question 
whether signboards advertising products with 
German or Austrian names may not have a mili- 
tary significance, as certain advertising signs 
were proved to have had in France and Belgium. 

The signboard particularly under suspicion 
just now is a huge one along the line of the rail- 
road between Rome and Naples. It advertises a 
half-hundred products made by well-known 
Pittsburgh manufacturers of pickles and pre- 
serves, and was possibly placed in Italy to bring 
a smile to travellers from the United States who 
are accustomed to see similar signs of this com- 
pany along all railroad and trolley lines in their 
own country. 



FROM ITALY 67 

The article states that one of these signs is also 
near a fort and another not far from an aero- 
plane station. It adds that perhaps this is only a 
coincidence, but concludes with saying signifi- 
cantly, "There are too many coincidences!'' 

So many persons have been justly convicted of 
obtaining information for which they could have 
no legitimate use that there is some excuse for 
this excess of zeal on the part of citizens and 
authorities, but the dangers to innocent persons 
at the hands of ignorant or unscrupulous ones 
seeking revenge for private wrongs are increas- 
ing daily, and it is gratifying to note that some 
of the more responsible and conservative papers 
are beginning to caution the people against the 
arousing of unjust suspicion. 



FOURTH OF JULY AT THE 
EMBASSY 

Three times I have been in Italy on the Fourth 
of July, and twice the four thousand miles be- 
tween me and the United States have caused an 
indescribable feeling of remoteness and loneli- 
ness. But to-day was so different that I felt as 
if on American soil enjoying the cheering hos- 
pitality of some stately mansion on the James 
River. Ambassador Page and Mrs. Page had 
"open house" for all their countrymen in Rome. 
There were no formal invitations, but only demo- 
cratic notices posted in the hotels stating that on 
the Fourth of July, Ambassador and Mrs. Page 
would welcome all Americans at the Palazzo del 
Drago. 

Through other visits to Rome I had become 
accustomed to seeing business of a lowly kind 
conducted on the ground floors of the most mag- 
nificent palaces, so was therefore not surprised to 
find that the Palazzo del Drago sheltered not 
only our ambassador, but also a wine shop, a 



70 WARTIME LETTERS 

lithographing establishment and a paint and var- 
nish store, not to mention a moving-picture 
theatre. 

But commerce ends on the street level. The 
floors above have all the grandeur that one as- 
sociates with the word ''palazzo," and the apart- 
ments occupied by Ambassador and Mrs. Page 
are magnificent in their furnishings. One room 
is entirely American in its appointments. The 
other rooms are stately and beautiful, but this 
one is something more. It is comfortable, home- 
like, and there the guests lingered longest, 
among the books brought from America, the 
family portraits, photographs of friends, and 
three old mahogany bookcases that surely were 
made in America, even though, as I was told, 
they were purchased in Rome. 

A cheerful young attache from Boston greeted 
the guests as if truly glad to see them. Ambas- 
sador and Mrs. Page afforded us the same 
sensation ; and to make a hundred people feel "at 
home" is, I imagine, no easy matter. 



FROM ITALY 71 

There were flowers of many kinds, but 
American Beauty roses had the places of honor. 
I suppose they were grown here, but I have nev- 
er seen them elsewhere in Rome. 

It was not hunger that made us applaud at 
sight of a long table filled with good things to 
eat, but only appreciation of a hospitality that 
even in the refreshments had sought to make us 
feel that we were in our own homes, in our own 
blessed land. Who would expect to see in Rome 
four-storied chocolate cakes, with icing dripping 
luxuriously from the eaves? Or the many-lay- 
ered cocoanut cakes of our childhood days ? And 
least of all, and best to see, who could think to 
find., four thousand miles from home, a real, 
honest-to-goodness strawberry shortcake, which 
one could eat to the music of "My Old Ken- 
tucky Home'' and "Dixie Land" ? For the music 
of America accompanied the national refresh- 
ments, and every song of our native land, from 
"The Star-Spangled Banner" to "Swanee River," 
was played by the orchestra and sung by the 
guests. 



72 WARTIME LETTERS 

That Peter Pan of Rome, the sculptor Ezekiel, 
who never will grow up, two-stepped alone to 
the Sousa "Stars and Stripes" until the dignified 
wife of an attache also became a child again and 
joined him in the dance. Ezekiel at one time 
came from America, but no one seems to know 
just when it was. In the reminiscences of diplo- 
mats of many years ago one may read of the 
splendid entertainments he gave in his studio, 
which was then in the Baths of Diocletian. He 
is so much a part of Rome that one associates 
him with the other monuments and is tempted to 
add his name to a famous phrase and say that 
"as long as the sculptor Ezekiel and the Coliseum 
stand, just so long will Rome endure." 

Personally, I needed all the happiness that 
the reception afforded, for earlier in the after- 
noon I had seen something of the effects of war. 
It has only been within the past week that 
wounded soldiers from the front have been sent 
here, but now they are coming almost every day. 
A young French girl who had been under in- 
struction at the Red Cross headquarters had 



FROM ITALY 73 

said a cheerful good-bye to us at the hotel as she 
left for her first actual work among the wounded. 
She went away with bright eyes, a healthy color 
in her cheeks, and a buoyant step. When she 
returned in the afternoon her face was drawn 
and white, her voice trembled and her eyes were 
filled with terror. ''Mon DieuT she said; "if 
only those boys would not scream so!" 

The operations, of course, are performed un- 
der anesthetics, but nothing can be done to les- 
sen the agony when it is necessary later to re- 
pack the gaping wounds with gauze. The nurse 
told us that from a window she had seen passers- 
by cover their ears and run away, unable to stand 
the sound of those screams that reached to the 
street. 

As the war lengthens, the poor mutilated boys 
in their early twenties will come in greater num- 
bers, and it is inevitable that some of their suf- 
fering will be communicated to us who are non- 
combatants. A city cannot shelter hundreds of 
men who toss and scream in agony without most 
of its inhabitants feeling depressed. It will not 



74 WARTIME LETTERS 

be the result of morbid imaginations; the wire- 
less currents of the air carry sorrow as they carry 
joy, and there is no known way by which man- 
kind can insulate themselves from the sufferings 
of their brothers in times like these. 



THE PANAMA CANAL IN ROME 

I saw at a cinematograph the other evening a 
series of films showing the construction of the 
Panama Canal. It was a revelation even to me, 
who as an American am accustomed to seeing 
machines that in five minutes will do what a hun- 
dred men could not do in an hour. The Italian 
audience sat absolutely quiet, and when five hun- 
dred Italians sit in silence it means they are con- 
fronted by something that seems to them super- 
natural. I myself quite understood why the girl 
in front of me should shrink as out of the air 
there came a huge bird of steel that swooped 
down upon a hillside, opened its jaws, took a 
three thousand ton bite, swooped lower still, al- 
most into the faces of us who sat in the front 
rows, and disgorged that mass of earth and 
gravel. 

Judging from the films, apparently men at 
Panama counted for nothing more than intelli- 
gences that pressed a button here or a lever there 
to bring from its lair some monster of steel that 



76 WARTIME LETTERS 

carried small mountains from one place to an- 
other, wrenched mighty trees from the earth 
with one twist of their riveted tentacles or lifted 
bridges and trestles as if they were toys of tin. 

The preceding films of love, hate and vendetta 
had brought forth tears, curses and hisses from 
the audience, but before these colossi of iron and 
steel with which the wonderful Americani win 
peaceful battles the impressionable Italians sat 
stupefied. 

But my neighbors at an outdoor cafe on the 
Via Veneto an hour later showed no interest 
whatever when a Chinese woman in gorgeous 
robes of crimson and gold stumbled by on her 
tiny ''bound" feet, offering for sale in good 
Italian rosettes of green, red and white for the 
benefit of the Red Cross. Then it was I who mar- 
velled, stared and sat silent. Had such a figure 
appeared on Fifth Avenue, a crowd would have 
collected. But a high-class Chinese woman, 
speaking good Italian, and selling the national 
colors here in Rome, seemed nothing strange to 
the natives, while I rubbed my eyes to convince 



FROM ITALY 77 

myself that I was not dreaming or at a Gilbert 
and Sullivan revival. 

Women are now replacing men as street- 
sweepers here. They receive forty cents a day 
for ten hours' work. Four cents an hour does 
not seem an excessive wage. Sweeping a street 
apparently demands a skill different from that 
required to sweep a house, for the work is not so 
well done by the women as it was by the men. 



A CABLE MESSAGE 

I cabled to New York to-day for money, but 
although I am duly registered at the "Questura" 
and have a printed "permesso" from the police 
authorities to remain in Rome, the cable, although 
not in code, was not forwarded until further in- 
quiries regarding my respectability were made. 
Perhaps the very simplicity of the wording was 
suspicious, or it may have been the fact that I 
paid three lira for the unnecessary "please" with 
which I began the request. The clerk at the 
banking-house typewrote the message and took it 
to the cable office. I supposed it had gone for- 
ward, but several hours later a uniformed of- 
ficial from the post-office department, which con- 
trols the cable, came to look me up at the hotel. 
He questioned the landlord regarding my actions 
while in his house and then came to judge for 
himself whether or not I looked like a person 
who would send a dangerous message out of 
Italy. 

A large American flag beautifies a wall of my 



80 WARTIME LETTERS 

room, and in the frame of the mirror happened 
to be the cards of a half-dozen Romans whom I 
met when last here and with whom I still main- 
tain friendly relations. The flag came in for ad- 
miration and the cards were carefully read. The 
lining of my hat also appeared to be of interest. 
Nothing could be less provocative of distrust 
than the name and address of a Philadelphia hat- 
ter, I am sure, so perhaps that is why I myself 
came in for only a very kindly scrutiny. I 
thought I detected even a trace of friendly sym- 
pathy as the gentleman in brass buttons glanced 
at the very old and very ragged bathrobe which 
I wore for the sake of coolness. At any rate, he 
shook hands while I cried ''Viva V Italia T and 
went away apparently satisfied. So I assume 
that my quite usual and harmless request for a 
remittance will be sent forward. If it isn't, I 
shall probably appear at the back door of the 
American Embassy in a few days to request 
something to eat, which would be a distinctly 
humiliating experience, considering that ten days 
ago I went in at the front door and shared in the 



FROM ITALY 81 

Fourth of July hospitality offered by Ambassador 
and Mrs. Page to their fellow-countrymen in 
Rome. 

The times are not normal, so one is prepared 
for all sorts of experiences. Especially must all 
of us stranieri be ready to meet distrust and 
suspicion of our presence in Italy just now. 

Late last night on the Corso I came upon a 
growling crowd of men and boys who had hold 
of a man whom they suspected of being a 
Tedesco, and therefore possibly a spy. Things 
looked dangerous for him for a few minutes and 
he was white with alarm, for the frenzy of 
suspicious Italians is no jest. He kept his head, 
however, and succeeded in persuading the more 
reasonable men that he was Swiss and not 
Austrian or German. They let him go. He 
rushed into the house and made the mistake of 
banging the door in the faces of two men who 
had followed him from out the crowd. One of 
them shouted that suspects always declare that 
they are Swiss, and the newly-inflamed mob 
rushed for the heavy oak door, kicking and 



82 WARTIME LETTERS 

pounding it and daring the man to come out. He 
did not respond to their alluring invitation and 
the zealous citizens finally went away. I think 
he may depend upon being summoned to the 
"Questura" to-morrow. 

I remained throughout the squabble, but not 
without a certain thrill of danger, for had I been 
addressed by anyone in the mob, my accent 
would have betrayed me as a foreigner and I 
should have had a few bad minutes myself while 
my passport and other papers were being handled 
by the patriots. No one can question that there 
is need for apprehension of spies at this time, 
and I think I could easily have forgiven my in- 
quisitors. 

It is being constantly urged upon citizens by 
the newspapers and by various protective asso- 
ciations that duty demands that they be always 
on the lookout for strangers whose presence may 
be a menace to Italy. On the walls of many 
houses, on a window in front of the "Giornale 
d' Italia" office, and even on the mail-boxes at the 
main post-office, are red, white and green 



FROM ITALY 83 

"pasters" of the Committee for Internal Defence, 
warning Italians not to speak of military opera- 
tions in public places and advising them to be 
vigilant in locating and denouncing spies. The 
"paster" also recommends that citizens avoid all 
unnecessary expenditures and that they give to 
needy families of soldiers the money which they 
might be tempted to spend on luxuries. 

Last week a mob destroyed the shops of three 
persons with foreign names who were reported to 
be ''antipatico" to Italy. They also visited the 
shop of a Roman barber who had married a Ger- 
man woman. He is at the front, but his wife 
was running the business. A creditor with a 
bill had been told by the woman that she was 
paying no debts in war time. During the argu- 
ment that followed, the woman was foolish 
enough to say some nasty things about Italians. 
She even went so far as to boast that within a 
year the Germans would be in Rome and that 
then the Italians would be kept in their proper 
places. Her remarks were circulated and that 
night a mob wrecked the shop and probably 



J 



84 WARTIME LETTERS 

would have damaged her, too, had they been able 
to find her. 

The government does not countenance demon- 
strations of this kind, but demands that investi- 
gations and punishments be conducted by the 
proper authorities. Accordingly, the leaders of 
these self-elected avengers have been sentenced to 
prison for several months and have in addition 
been required to pay heavy fines. 

Yesterday there was a special service in the 
synagogue here to celebrate the going to the front 
of the rabbis who wish to be near the young 
Hebrews who have volunteered under the Italian 
colors. There are also eighteen hundred Catho- 
lic priests and monks on the fighting line. 



A LOTTERY AT THE QUIRINAL* 

Probably never before in Italy have the mem- 
bers of the royal family had such familiar inter- 
course with the people as at the lottery for the 
benefit of the Red Cross, which ended yesterday 
in the garden of the QuirinaL The fourteen-year- 
old Princess Yolanda conceived the project and 
recruited from the leading families in Rome a 
hundred young girls to assist her. It was en- 
tirely a youthful affair, conducted by girls and 
boys of from ten to- eighteen years of age. 

The "committee of one hundred," made up of 
the prettiest girls in Rome, requisitioned the few 
automobiles not already taken by the military 
authorities and from the shops of tradesmen and 
the studios of artists and sculptors they carried 
off more than fifty thousand donations, ranging 
from a stuffed parrot to a life-sized reproduction 
of the Venus of the Capitol. 

The girls from the biggest orphanage in Rome 
were asked to assist and the Giovani Esploratori 
(Boy Scouts) and the Giovani Esploratrice 

* Reprinted by permission of the New Yorlc Times, 



86 WARTIME LETTERS 

(Girl Scouts) were enlisted to sell tickets, do 
police duty, and form a bodyguard for Prince 
Umberto and his sisters Yolanda and Mafalda 
whenever they came to do their share of the 
work. For the Prince and the two Princesses 
also did their stunts for an hour twice a day. 
The little twelve-year-old Prince, dressed as a 
sailor, went about the first day with a tray 
suspended from his neck, selling postcards, while 
Yolanda and Mafalda peddled flowers. The 
Queen and the Queen Dowager Margherita ac- 
companied them. 

The first attempt to fraternize with the popu- 
lace was not a success, or, rather, was too much 
of a success, for the royal family were almost 
suflfocated by the affection of the people. No 
sooner did they appear in the courtyard of the 
palace than some 50,000 persons rushed toward 
them, fighting for an opportunity to buy post- 
cards and flowers. It was a new experience for 
the three youngsters, and they seemed rather dis- 
mayed at first at the tumult. The Boy Scouts 
formed a square about the Prince, and the Girl 



FR03I ITALY 87 

Scouts did the same for the Princesses, but the 
crowd broke through the barrier made by the 
wooden staffs of the Scouts and pressed so 
closely around the Prince and his sisters that for 
a time it looked as if they might be trampled un- 
der foot. 

The carabinieri fought their way into the mob 
and finally cleared a breathing space for the three 
children, from whose faces the perspiration 
streamed in a quite plebeian way, for the hottest 
of suns was also assisting at the spectacle. The 
Queen and the Queen Dowager looked more than 
a little alarmed, but by this time the children 
were frankly amused and delighted by the ex- 
citement, notwithstanding their discomfort. In 
a few minutes the Prince had sold his postcard 
photographs and the tray was heaped so high 
with banknotes that one could only see his 
vivacious black eyes laughing above them. A 
Boy Scout arrived with more cards and a big 
basket, into which he swept the pile of money. 

The Prince handed over the postcards himself 
to all purchasers and said ''Grazia" so sweetly 



88 WARTIME LETTERS 

that one did not have the heart to ask for change. 
An old Italian gentleman bought the first post- 
card and paid two thousand lire for it. A cer- 
tain young* American got the second one (for ten 
lire), and he is still putting arnica on the bruises 
he acquired in that mob of fifty thousand en- 
thusiastic Italians. 

The orphan girls had charge of the revolving 
wire cages that held the tiny paper rolls for the 
drawing, and each girl had a sturdy Boy Scout 
cavalier to look after her. The first two days it 
cost a lira to draw for a prize, but the price de- 
clined until on the last day one could draw four 
times for that sum. If one was fortunate, he 
drew a slip of paper with only a number on it. 
If he lost, the slip bore the printed words "Pro 
Croce Rossa," to remind him that what was his 
loss was the gain of a worthy cause. 

People of all conditions availed themselves of 
this opportunity to see at close range their 
Queen and her children, as well as the always be- 
loved Queen Margherita, whose hair is now snow 
white. Twice daily, the royal family attended, 





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FROM ITALY 89 

for they considered themselves as having invited 
the people of Rome to the palace, and for the 
hosts not to appear would have been a breach 
of hospitality. 

Side by side with the richly dressed men and 
women of title were those of the lowest classes, 
even some humble street sweepers with bulging 
eyes, who had come in their working clothes. 
Marchese, Conte or Giovanni the porter^ — all 
could command the services of the attendants, 
who were not domestics of the royal household, 
but the sons and daughters of the aristocracy, 
who, during the week that the lottery lasted, 
toiled cheerfully for seven hours a day in a heat 
like that of the furnace room of a steamer. For 
the sun seemed at its malicious worst, and al- 
though the lottery was advertised as being in the 
gardens of the Quirinal it was really held in a 
huge courtyard of the palace, and there was no 
shade whatever. There were half a dozen apart- 
ments where the prizes were displayed, but only 
those who had won were permitted to enter for a 
time sufficient to get what they had drawn. 



90 WARTIME LETTERS 

The young American with the bruises won 
twenty-five prizes, ranging from a toy dog 6n 
wheels to a Japanese vase, and including a very 
"cute" knitted dress with white ribbons for a 
six months' old baby! 

''E maritato, Lei?" (Are you married?) asked 
the Girl Scout who handed over the little dress. 

''No, Signorina; sono un baccelliere/' (No, I 
am a bachelor) , he replied, and for five minutes 
there was much chaffing of the young American 
who had won a baby's dress. 

"Good-bye, Signor Americano," one girl 
called out. "Perhaps the little dress will bring 
you a pretty wife and — !" 

''SperoT (I hope so !) retorted the baccelliere 
as he hurried away, somewhat embarrassed. 

After the first day the Queen and her children 
did not submit themselves to the too-ardent at- 
tentions of the crowd, but spent their two hours 
a day back of one of the booths where refresh- 
ments were sold. The Prince sold his postcard 
photographs and Yolanda and Mafalda drew 
tickets for those who asked them to do so. It 



FROM ITALY 91 

was noticed that every slip of paper the 
Princesses handed out called for a prize, so I 
fancy there were no blanks in the basket over 
which they presided. Perhaps it would not be 
exactly "royal" for a Princess to bring anything 
but good fortune to her suppliants. 

The first day the Boy Scouts did succeed in 
beating back the crowd long enough to permit the 
taking of the photograph showing the Prince 
with his basket of postcards. 

What most endears Queen Elena and her chil- 
dren to the people is their simplicity. One thinks 
of the Queen as being first of all a good mother, 
a gentle-bred, modest and efficient lady who has 
paid much attention to "the business of being a 
woman." The Prince is an unaffected little chap 
with a smile that could only come from an un- 
spoiled nature. He is first of all a boy, and af- 
ter that a Prince, but always more boy than 
Prince and with a healthy boy's interest in all 
that concerns other boys, especially the Boy 
Scouts, who idolize him. On the last day of the 
lottery he appeared in his Boy Scouts' uniform. 



92 WARTIME LETTERS 

and I thought the people would never cease 
shouting their joy at the sight. 

Never has there been a more wholesome, hope- 
ful happening for the present youth of Italy 
than this scout movement. It touches all classes, 
from the sons and daughters of the nobility down 
(or up) to the children of the man who earns 
five lire a day. With its drills and exercises, its 
commitment to temperance in all things, and its 
pledge to public service, it is affording to the 
present generation a sound, healthy employment 
of energy and is teaching ethics in a new and 
more interesting way. 

This lottery gave the first big opportunity for 
the Boy and Girl Scouts to show what they could 
do, and the success which they made through 
their tireless industry has destroyed the last 
criticism of some Italians of the old school who, 
having no gift of organization themselves, have 
regarded the Boy Scout movement as but a fad, 
of doubtful use in the present and doomed to 
early extinction, because of a Latin absence of 
co-operative spirit. 



FROM ITALY 93 

Italy is a wine-drinking country, and wine and 
vermouth are part of every public entertainment. 
At the lottery there were half a dozen booths 
where a light vermouth was sold, but no Boy 
Scout would volunteer for this service, which 
had to be performed by liveried employees of the 
palace. 

Apropos of the human qualities of the royal 
children, they say that one day at luncheon the 
Queen had occasion to reprove the ten-year-old 
Princess Mafalda for some infraction of table 
etiquette. 

, ^'Mafalda, why don't you be nice, and eat as 
your sister Yolanda does?" 

"Oh !" sniffed Mafalda, "Yolanda is always 
trying to make us believe she is a real lady !" 

The Romans say it is the Queen's favorite 
story. 



AT CAFFE GAMBRINUS 
FLORENCE 

The orchestra still plays in its air-hung balcony 
at Caffe Gambrinus and the sidewalk tables are 
crowded as ever they were, but now it is the mid- 
dle-aged fathers and mothers who sit where their 
handsome and intelligent sons used to meet to 
discuss the sociological and political problems 
with which the Florentines are always wrestling. 
There they sit, these fathers and mothers, their 
thoughts upon Gaetano or Cosimo, who are sleep- 
ing in mud-stained clothes somewhere in the 
North. 

Sometimes "mother" will see some other 
woman's soldier boy standing in the arcade list- 
ening wistfully to the music, his thoughts back in 
the little hill town from which he was summoned 
to Florence to join his regiment. She speaks to 
''father," who beckons the boy to their table. 
Father orders granita di caffe con panna — con 
doppia panna, and mother commands a tray of 
pastry. They compete in kindness to him for the 



96 WARTIME LETTERS 

sake of their own boys up there in the mountains 
around Gorizia, and give him many loving mes- 
sages, for who knows that the fortunes of war 
may not sometime place him in a trench next to 
their own dear Gaetano and Cosimo ? 

The nervous tension here regarding the pres- 
ence of spies is greater even than that in Rome. 
Several Austrian men have been discovered 
dressed as women, and this fact was responsible 
for what came close to being a distressing humil- 
iation for one innocent foreigner. Some Floren- 
tines attending service in the Duomo noticed that 
a person in woman's garb had unusually large feet. 
Immediately it was whispered about that it was 
a man in disguise. When the suspect left the 
Duomo, the entire congregation followed, and 
were joined by other people in the streets. The 
crowd began to press closely around the fright- 
ened "spy," muttering angrily. They were about 
to tear the clothes from off the supposed Austrian, 
when the carabinieri arrived and hurried ''him" 
off to the Questura, where it was found that "he" 
was a friendly English woman afflicted with feet 



FROM ITALY 97 

so large that she had to wear shoes of masculine 
dimensions. The woman told the reporters af- 
terwards that she hadn't minded being arrested 
half so much as she did the fact that the size of 
her feet would probably be advertised through- 
out Europe ! 



PRO FAMIGLIE DEI RICHIAMATI 

''Pro famiglie dei RichiamatV — "For the fam- 
ilies of the summoned/' These are the magic 
words, the sometimes tragic words, that now pull 
at the heart and loosen the purse strings. We 
must all keep them before us while the war lasts, 
both here in Italy and in America, where at 203 
Broadway, in New York City, is the Committee 
for Italian Relief that collects wool and surgical 
supplies for the Red Cross and money and pro- 
visions for the needy families of the men who 
are fighting. 

The Italians and the Americans in Florence 
are giving freely of their time and money. Every 
week there is some concert or theatrical enter- 
tainment for charitable purposes to which it is 
considered a duty to subscribe. Last night there 
was a grande concerto at the Politeama, which 
holds about five thousand people. Every seat 
and all available standing room was occupied 
from nine o'clock in the evening until one in the 
morning by an audience that paid nearly thirty 



100 WARTIME LETTERS 

thousand lire to help the families of the 
^Wichiamatr and give a good time to two hun- 
dred wounded soldiers and a thousand other well 
ones who will go to the front within a day or so. 

The 'JeriW were brought from the hospital in 
motor ambulances, and there was a dramatic five 
minutes as they came into the theatre. Many of 
them had to be carried to the seats reserved for 
them in the front rows, while others hobbled pain- 
fully along on crutches. Some had shaved heads 
wrapped in bandages, and most of them carried 
an arm or a hand in a sling. As they limped in, 
the audience jumped to its feet and cheered as 
only an Italian audience can cheer, while from 
balconies, galleries and boxes came a shower of 
flowers that fell about the wounded and covered 
the floor with a beautiful, fragrant carpet. It 
was becoming that the City of Flowers should 
show its appreciation in this way, and nothing 
could have been more impressive than that five- 
minute rain of roses, asters and the brilliant yel- 
low ginestra. 

The kindness of it all was too much for a few 



FROM ITALY 101 

of the younger men, some of them not more than 
eighteen. In their weakened condition, the ex- 
citement was more unnerving than a battle 
would have been, and they cried like little chil- 
dren who had strayed far from home and were 
bewildered by strange scenes. For a strange af- 
fair it was to most of those simple-minded coun- 
try boys, not one of whom was more than twen- 
ty years of age. The officers who accompanied 
them were tender with them, as only strong men 
dare to be, and their conduct is representative of 
the relations between all officers and men of the 
Italian army. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge that the feeling between officers and men in 
this present war is that of devoted brothers, and 
there have been unparalleled acts of heroism by 
soldiers who have fought like demons to recover 
the wounded or dead body of some beloved cap- 
tain or lieutenant. 

Between the musical numbers, a half hundred 
beautiful girls served ice-cream, cakes and 
cigarettes to the wounded, and a dozen children 
pinned roses upon their coats. Those boys who 



102 WARTIME LETTERS 

were unable to use their hands were fed by the 
girls, who also lighted the cigarettes for the help- 
less ones, and twice I saw a fair, pitying hand 
rest lightly for a moment on the head of a child 
of eighteen whose right arm had been amputated. 

A balcony had been reserved for a thousand 
soldiers who are here awaiting their transporta- 
tion to the front. No one showered them with 
flowers, and it would be interesting to know 
what their thoughts were as they looked upon 
their maimed and disfigured fellow-men sitting 
below them. Apparently they were undismayed 
at sight of what may be in store for all of them, 
for no one in the theatre shouted more joy- 
fully than they as the orchestra struck up the 
national air. 

But at least they can count upon receiving just 
as much in the way of kindness and gratitude un- 
der like conditions, for the great sentiment 
throughout Italy is to serve those who have 
fought and to lighten as much as possible the 
sorrow and need of the families they leave be- 
hind them. 



FROM ITALY 103 

I am leaving Italy shortly, and the impression 
I take with me is of a noble people who with 
the calmness of great strength are united in a 
struggle from which they will emerge proud of 
the sacrifices that brought freedom to their 
brothers and sisters in the Trentino. 

Sempre avanti Italia! 



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